April 18, 2011

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Under President George W. Bush, the Justice Department considered and rejected criminal charges against the Council on American-Islamic Relations for alleged support of Hamas, a knowledgeable source told POLITICO Monday.

The decision not to indict CAIR came in 2004 as prosecutors in Dallas were preparing to seek an indictment of the Holy Land Foundation and five of its officials, the source said. Some prosecutors wanted to include CAIR and others in the case at that time. However, senior Justice Department officials elected not to, the source said. (The attorney general at the time was John Ashcroft.)

The disclosure of a Bush-era decision not to indict CAIR is noteworthy because some conservatives have alleged in recent days that a Justice Department decision last year to decline to prosecute CAIR, the group's co-founder Omar Ahmad and others was motivated by politics and a desire to preserve outreach efforts to U.S. Muslim groups.

Pajamas Media, which broke news of the 2010 decision last week, said the "indictments were scuttled last year at the direction of top-level political appointees within the Department of Justice (DOJ) — and possibly even the White House."

"This was a political decision from the get-go,” the source told Pajamas' Patrick Poole. "It was always the plan to initially go after the [Holy Land Foundation] leaders first and then go after the rest of the accomplices in a second round of prosecutions. ... We tried to do what we could during the Bush administration. ... To say things are different under Obama and Holder would be an understatement."

Poole told me Monday night that he was aware of discussion of prosecuting a broader case in 2004 and saw no conflict between what he reported and what my source told me.

"I have no doubt there was some discussion about whether we were going to try everybody" in 2004, Poole said. "I don’t think that at all contradicts what my source said. They decided to get the bigger fish after they convicted the smaller fish."

"'Not now' is quite different than what the Obama Justice Department said, which is 'Not ever,'" Poole added.

"Would it surprise me? No," McCarthy said Monday. "That was the time to do the case, then and there. They had the proof and when you have the proof you should do the case. Cases don't get better as they get more stale."

McCarthy noted, accurately, that he has unleashed withering criticism in his columns and books on the Bush, Obama and even Clinton administrations for allegedly coddling what he calls "Islamists."

"I've been screaming that they should bring these cases. I have not gone easy on the Bush administration. I'm not absolving the Bush administration of anything," McCarthy added, noting that elements in the Bush White House also wanted to pursue robust outreach efforts to U.S. Muslim groups that prosecutors believe have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. "These cases should have been done eons ago. This is a bipartisan problem."

McCarthy said it's possible that officials had legitimate strategic reasons for not indicting CAIR and others as part of the Holy Land Foundation case, which led to a hung jury on most charges in 2007 and a conviction of all five charged officials in 2008. But the former prosecutor said desires to preserve relationships with groups in the Muslim community often color decisions about the scope of cases. So, too, do concerns about photos and stories emerging about government officials who held outreach or political meetings with the defendants, he said.

"There is a current of thought in government that you can sculpt cases and you're ostensibly doing it for strategic reasons, but people frequently have an agenda not to embarrass themselves," McCarthy said.

CAIR has repeatedly denied any connection to Hamas or terrorism. Ahmad could not be reached for comment. Federal prosecutors, however, have introduced evidence in court of Ahmad's attendance at a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia that the FBI contends was a gathering of Hamas supporters seeking to undermine the Middle East peace process. Prosecutors have also presented documents that appear to show CAIR as part of a network of Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the U.S.

CAIR defenders note that the 1993 meeting was two years before Hamas was designated a terrorist group by the U.S. They also say the provenance and import of the lists of various Muslim groups is uncertain.

It's unclear how much more information about CAIR and Ahmad the Justice Department had at the time of the 2010 decision not to prosecute versus what was in prosecutors' hands in 2004. Most if not all of the evidence they cited in court during the Holy Land case was already in the government's hands by 2004. The FBI and prosecutors did get a trove of internal CAIR records in 2009 via a grand jury subpoena delivered to an author who led an undercover sting of the group.

McCarthy also points out that the 2008 conviction of the Holy Land defendants was an indication that jurors accepted the general thrust of the government's case. And Poole notes that by 2010 prosecutors also had a judge's ruling that there was "ample evidence" linking CAIR and two other major U.S. Muslim organizations to Hamas.

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Read Poole's argument and knew the DOJ had dropped CAIR off of the Holy Land Foundation case. Then came the treasure trove of correspondence the Father/Son team got from CAIR in 2008-9 which CAIR SUED to get back. Feds stepped in and seized them. It would seem the case against CAIR only became stronger, which is why it is doubly disturbing it was dropped.

CAIR has been in the forefront for years, even though many would like for it to go under the radar. I'm not sure where the 'news' is as to the fact that the Bush era didn't prosecute it--many have known about that and opposed the Bush DoJ for that reason. For whatever reason Bush refused to proceed (maybe there wasn't then overwhelming evidence), there is now ample evidence and there should be no hesitation.

*"CAIR's Status As A Co-Conspirator Is A Matter Of Public Record"
- Judge Jorge Solis
HLF Trial Of CAIR-Texas Founder Ghassan Elashi & Others
*"CAIR has been identified by the government at trial as a participant in an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization, a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew"
- U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks
*"The four pieces of evidence...create at least a prima facie case as to CAIR's involvement in a conspiracy to support HAMAS."(p7)
- Judge Jorge Solis
HLF Trial Of CAIR-Texas Founder Ghassan Elashi & Others
*"CAIR Is A HAMAS Entity...It Is HAMAS" (Video - 7:28)
- Former FBI Special Agent
Expert On Muslim Brotherhood Movement In US
*"I think there is something disingenuous about the idea of a representative of CAIR saying, 'We don't know what this is about.'"... "During the Holyland Foundation trial, evidence was brought to bear that two of the founding members of CAIR - who were still in those positions at the time - were related to HAMAS organizers, and the question that was raised was, 'Is CAIR going to be an appropriate liaison partner for the FBI if the two founding members who are still in place are maintaining that relationship with HAMAS, a designated terrorist group...'" (Audio)
- FBI Assistant Director John Miller
*"Until We Can Resolve Whether There Continues To Be A Connection Between CAIR Or It's Executives And HAMAS, The FBI Does Not View CAIR As An Appropriate Liaison Partner..."
- Richard C. Powers
FBI Assistant Director Of Congressional Affairs
*"You stated it was to help people, but the motive was to support HAMAS," ... "You state that you are innocent,
but the evidence shows the opposite."
- Judge Jorge Solis
HLF Trial Of CAIR-Texas Founder Ghassan Elashi & Others
“There Is No Question CAIR Supports HAMAS”
- Former FBI Special Agent John Vincent
*"The attendees agreed not to mention the word HAMAS but to refer to HAMAS as 'Samah,' which is HAMAS spelled backwards," (p19)
- Judge Jorge Solis
HLF Trial Of CAIR-Texas Founder Ghassan Elashi & Others
"We Know The Founders Of CAIR Are HAMAS Operatives."
- Former FBI Agent John Gwandolo

"The Holy Land trial"-concluded with convictions on all 108 counts in late November 2008. The second case brought against CAIR wasn't to begin until the first was finally settled. Obama was elected the same month. His and only his DOJ made this decision and only after becoming very chummy with CAIR and all his apologizing around the Middle East--all this and now dropping the case--all too TRANSPARENT.
"But there’s even a greater problem than that. A July 2009 order by the federal judge in the original Holy Land Foundation case, Judge Jorge Solis, on the matter of naming CAIR and other Islamic groups as unindicted co-conspirators in the case, and unsealed by the court in November 2010, goes to great length explaining the evidence presented at trial implicating CAIR and its co-founder:"-PJM 4/19/2011
The Government identifies four portions of the record from the first trail that purportedly established that CAIR was a “joint venturer and co-conspirator”: (1) a Government exhibit showing the objective of the Palestine Committee is to support Hamas; (2) a Government exhibit showing CAIR founder Omar Ahmad is part of the Palestine Committee and Mousa Abu Marzook is its head; (3) a Government exhibit listing CAIR as part of the Palestine Committee; and (4) the testimony of Special Agent Lara Burns and accompanying exhibits placing the CAIR founder at the 1993 Philadelphia conference and describing the CAIR founder’s mediation of a dispute between HLF and Ashqar over Hamas fundraising . (Resp. at 12-13.) The Government does not mention any occasion where it used the 801(d)(2)(E) hearsay exception to introduce a statement of CAIR. The four pieces of evidence the government relies on, as discussed below, do create at least a prima facie case as to CAIR’s involvement in a conspiracy to support Hamas. (p. 6-7)

Obviously, Bush was more of a Muslin, than Obama(whata ever that means). Note the WTC terrorist were all from S.Arabia, not Iraq, then there is Bush, holding hands, walking through his garden, with the King of Arabia.
Does the teabagger's memory go back that far?

Posted By: Obviously, Bush was more of a Muslin, than Obama(whata ever that means). Note the WTC terrorist were | April 19, 2011 at 09:46 AM

Josh and all you Journolist members of the committed prog movement - how does it feel to be a tool? Good ol' foot soldier, now you are promoted to Corporal for holding Holder's water.
Think LESS, Emote MORE - Circle the Wagons, that's Progressive.

So the Obama DOJ in 2010 decided not to prosecute because of Bush DOJ decisions in 2004 despite convictions in 2008?
It seems there were a number of events between 2004 and 2010 and if the decision was really made in 2004 then it would not be made in 2010.